James Marsh, Colin Firth To Set Sail On 1968 World Yacht Race Pic

EXCLUSIVE: Blueprint Pictures and BBC Films has set The Theory of Everything helmer James Marsh to direct Colin Firth on the feature based on the true story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to win the first round the World Yacht Race in 1968. Firth will play Crowhurst, and shooting will begin in the spring. The film is produced by Pete Czernin, Graham Broadbent and Scott Z. Burns, alongside Nicolas Mauvernay and Jacques Perrin of Galatee. It was developed with Christine Langan from BBC Films and Studiocanal, and Burns wrote the script.

Pic’s financing is from Studiocanal and BBC Films, with Studiocanal distributing it its stronghold territories and selling the rest in Berlin. That brings a hot project to Germany, with Marsh coming off his acclaimed and Oscar nominated Stephen Hawking film and a strong role for Oscar-winning The King’s Speech star Firth.

Studiocanal completed the Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Idris Elba drama The Gunman, directed by Pierre Morel and it also has Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard; Bastille Day also with Idris Elba, and the Stephen Frears pic about the Lance Armstrong controversy that stars Ben Foster and Guillaume Canet.